Coal-gas converter for furnaces



' Spt. 24, 1929. c. 5mm

COAL GAS GONVERTBR FOR FURNACES i Filed June 2', 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet /Ill/l/ll/ Sept 24, 1929. c. BAIER 1,728,913

COAL GAS CONVERTER FOR FURNACES Fild June 2,'1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z 9 F.2'57 5 4'4 6L! ii ll Patented Sept. 24, 1929 UNITED STATES CHARLES BAIER, OF WEST ORANGE, JERSEY COAL-GAS CONVERTER FOR FURNACES Application filed June 2, 1928. Serial No. 282,406.

This invention relates to devices designed to be placed in the fire box of a furnace for the purpose of collecting a certain amount of the air passing into the furnace and conveying it to a position above the bed of burning coal and discharging it where it maybe mixed with the gases given ofi by the burning coal to thereby burn these gases.

The general object of the present invent on is to provide a device of this character which secures a more perfect combustion of the carbon-monoxide gases given off by the burning fuel than is possible with other constructions of the same general character known to me, and in this connection to provide an air or oxygen collector and semi-preheater which collects part of the air entering the ash pit, thus relieving the pressure of air beneath the ash pit and preventing it thereby from forcing the fire, and passes this air up through the bell of an upper chamber extending outward near the center of the fire so as to secure a hot fire beneath and around it, thus preheating the air as it passes to the superheater.

A further object is to provide a superheater into which the air from the preheater passes, which is so constructed as to divert the air or oxygen down through its chambers which are red hot and superheats it to the point where this air will mix with the carbon-monoxide gas rising from the burning coal and convert it into carbon-dioxide gas and thus secure an intense heat from the gases, and in this connection to so form the superheater that a certain amount of the superheated air is discharged upward and against the superheater proper so as to heat the superheater to -a red heat and certain of the heated air is discharged downward, spraying the hot air into the carbon-monoxide and permitting it 7 to burn in a hot blue flame.

A still further object is to provide means whereby the efliciency of the furnace may be greatly increased so that it will generate steam within five minutes and bring the temperature of a house up to the desired heat in a very short time and keep it there.

Other objects have to do with the details of construction and arrangement of parts as 5 will appear more fully hereinafter.

preheater My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section of a furnace-of ordinary construction provided with my coal gas converter;

Figure 2 is a sectional View through the converter and adjacent portion of the furnace;

Figure 3 is a top plan View of the converter partially broken away;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of the Figure 5 is a rear elevation of the front section of the preheater;

Figure 6 is a section on the line 66 of Figure 4.

In these drawings, I have shown a furnace A of ordinary character such, for instance, as a hot water or steam b oiler furnace having the usual grates B separating the ash pit C from the fire box D and having the 'usual ash pit door E. An air pipe 10 enters the ash pit below the grates, this air pipe being connected to a motor operated blower lloperated by any suitable motor and controlled, as will be later stated, this air pipe 10 being provided with a damper or valve 12 having a weighted arm 13 normally urging the damper or valve to a closed position when the pressure of air generated by the blower is below a certain amount.

Disposed immediately above the ash pit and shown as at one side of the furnace is an air collector and preheater. This is formed in two sections 14 and 15. The section 15 fits each other.

The section 14 is formed to provide a back plate 19 and projecting from said plate ad j acent its lower end is an approximately triangular protuberance 20 which extends entirely across the plate and which is hollow at 21. Projecting from the'plate adjacent its upper end is a protuberant portion 22 which is hollow at 23 and which is formed to provide a lurality of outwardly extending separated 'ns 24. The section 15 or outer shell is adapted to be disposed over the section it, as previously stated, and is formed to provide a downwardly flaring, approximately semi-circular lower portion or bell 25 into which the protuberance 20 projects, and an outwardly projecting chamber 26, the wall 27 of which is provided with a plurality of inwardly projecting fins 28 which have staggered relation with the fins 24 and extend into the spaces between the fins so that a sinuous passage is provided having awidth equal to the space between the fins and communicating at its lower end with the bell 25, there being an inwardly projecting flange 29 on the section 15 at the upper end of this bell and extending beneath and in spaced relation to the protuberant portion 22.

The upper end of the section 15 is formed with an upward prolongation or tongue 30 whereby the device as a whole may be mounted upon the furnace wall. Tlfe wall 27 of the chamber 26 at its top is interior-1y screwthreaded for the reception of a pipe section 31 and this pipe section is connected to an L 32 connected by a horizontal pipe 33 to the superheater 34. The superheater 34 comprises an approximately cylindrical drum or casing 35 having its lower wall 36 formed with a central opening 37, from which extends a vertical tubular portion 38.

This tubular extension is closed at its lower end but the wall 38 is provided with a plurality of upwardly and radially extending jets or openings 39 and below these openings with a pluralityof downwardly and radially extending openings 10. It will be seen that the body of the superheater extends outward beyond the tubular member 38 so that these jets or openings 39 discharge against the under wall of the superheater.

Disposed over the opening 37 and within the casing 35 is a bafile plate 41 having partitions 42. The superheater is supported within the furnace in any suitable manner but is shown as being supported by a cross bar or spider 43 through which a bolt 44 extending upward from the superheater casing passes. The spider or supporting member 43 extends across the central opening a of one of the waterchambers a; It willbe understood that I have illustrated a specific manner of supporting this casing in a hot water boiler or steam boiler but that it may be likewise supported in approximately the same position in an ordinary hot air furnace by any suitable means, the means, of course, varying with the character of the furnace.

The blower 11 is preferably controlled from a plurality of points as, for instance, by a thermostat which, by mechanism which 1s unnecessary to state as it forms no part of my present invention, stops and starts the electric blower attached to the ash pit of the furnace if the temperature rises above a predetermined degree in the room where the thermostat is placed or fallsbelow this predetermined degree.

The blower is also controlled by means of a safety switch, designated generally F, which forms no part of my present invention, connected by a chain f to the steam regulator, if steam is used as the heating medium, or a water regulator if a hot water system is used. This stops and starts the motor of the blower in accordance with the pressure in the boiler and functions until the thermostat acts to stop or start the blower. The valve 1 or damper 12 is an air pressure damper gov-' erned by the air pressure going to the furnace and which closes when the blower is stopped, thus preventing the passage of air into the ash pit when the blower has stopped functioning and thus eliminating unnecessary burning up of the coal.

The preheater formed of the sections 14 and 15 is placed in the fire box at a proper height above the grates so as to not interfere with the turning of the same or shaking down of the ashes. It collects part of the oxygen from the ash pit, thus relieving the pressure beneath the ash pit and thus reducing any tendency to force the fire, and passes this air up to the u per chamber 26. This protuberant upper c amber has been particularly designed with reference to the fact that small coal first burns from the outside in toward the center, thus leaving dead ash on its outer circumference. By designing the oxygen collector and semi-preheater with a protuberant chamber adjacent its upper end and extending it into or near the center of the fire, it is assured that there shall be a hot fire always under and around this upper chamber, thus preheating the air as it passes up from the ash pit through the semi-preheater to the superheater.

This air is obliged to take a circuitous course and in doing so is very highly preheated prior to its passage upward into the superheater. In -the superheater the air passes into the casing 35 and is there subdivided by the radiating partitions 42 or legs.

and thus a uniform distribution of this hot air is secured all around the superheating chamber so that the air is further and very highly heated by coming in contact with the walls of the casing 35. The air then passes inward through the passages defined by the radial walls 42 coming in contact with these very highly heated walls which get their heat then the air is passed downward through the opening 37 and is discharged, some of it upward and toward the superheater, as reviously described, in the form of small lastsby conduction from the under wall 36, and

or jets and some discharged downward onto the fire through the openings 40. The superheater under these upwardly directed jets from the openings 39 becomes red hot, acting on the same principle as a blow torch, while the openings 40 spray the hot air into the gas and cause the carbon-monoxide to burn with a hot blue flame.

This device, when installed, increases the efficiency of a furnace, permitting it, as before remarked, to generatesteam within a few minutes and bring up the temperature of 'a house to the desired heatin a ver short time. It is particularly designed to e used with small coal, and by utilizing the gas which would otherwise pass between them and be wasted, I obtain the full energy stored up in the coal and thus obtain a quickerresponse from the heating plant with a saving of approximately on a coal bill.

The blower is designed to be automatically controlled, as previously stated, by means of a thermostat and the pressure regulator and when so controlled, of course, relieves the necessity of worrying about and caring for the furnace. There are less ashes to be removed inasmuch as all. the coal is burned and none wasted, thus making it only necessary to clean the ashes out about once a week. I have found in actual practice that rice coal burns equally as well in a furnace having this improvement applied thereto as buckwheat coal, thus making a saving of 50% to on the coal hill. 7

While I have illustrated certain details of construction and arrangement of parts, I do not wish to be limited thereto as it is obvious that these might be modified in minor respects without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims. I have shown my invention as applied to a hot water or steam boiler furnace, but it will be understood that my invention may be appliedto furnaces of different forms and may be applied to furnaces in hot water orsteam heatingsystems or furnaces used in r I hot air systems.

The manner of supporting the superheater would of course vary with different makes of furnaces. In small furnaces the superheater will not have to be supportedby bolt 44 but may be held in place in the furnace by the ,pipe 33 and can be moved from side to side if necessary by rotating the pipe section 33 and the T 32 around the axis of the nipple 31.

the fire bed and comprising a easing into which; said pipe opens, the casing having a downwardly extending central portion of less diameter than the casing and formed with openings discharging air upward against the under face of the casing and with nozzles gisacharging air downward toward the fire 2. A coal gas converter for furnaces comprising a preheater formed to provide a receiving bell open at the bottom to receive air through the grate of the furnace and having an air channel in its upper portion, and a superheater comprising a circular easing into which said pipe opens, the casing having a central, downwardly extending portion of less diameter than the casing and formed with nozzles discharging air upward against the under face of the casing and discharging air downward toward the fire bed, the interior of thecasing having a baffle plate supported, in spaced relation to the lower wall of the casing, and a plurality of radiating partitions extending from the outer edge of the plate inward toward the central opening thereof.

3. A coal gas converter for furnaces including an air superheater adapted to be supported above the fire bed of the furnace comprising a casing having a central, downwardly extending portion of less diameter than the casing and formed with a plurality of jets discharging air upward against the bottom of the casing and a plurality of jets discharging air down toward the fire bed, and means for discharging air taken from beneath the grate of the furnace into said casing.

4. A coal gas converter for furnaces comprising a preheater formed at its lower portion to provide a receiving bell open at its bottom to receive air through the grate of the furnace and having above said bell an inwardly protuberant portion formed to provide a sinuous air channel therethrough, a pipe extending upward'from the upper end of the bell and communicating with the air channel, the pipe being extended at right angles at its upper end, a superheater comprising a circular casing into which said pipe opens, the casing having a central opening defined by a downwardly extending cylindrical portion of less diameter than the casing and closed at its lower end, the c lindrical portion being provided witha pl of jets discharging air upward toward the bottom of the casing, and a plurality of 'ets discharging air downward toward the fuel bed, the interior of the casing being formed with a circular baflle plate parallel to the lower wall of thecasing smaller in diameter than the casing and supported by a plurality of radial partitions .extending from the perimeter of the baffle plate inward toward the center thereof.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

urality CHARLES BAIER. 13o 

